ALTA continues to work with state land title associations in efforts to get legislation passed banning private transfer fee covenants (PTFs), also known as Wall Street Home Resale Fees.

Last week, ALTA helped develop a joint teleconference with the Minnesota Land Title Association, Minnesota Association of Realtors and three state legislators urging Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to sign the bill banning PTFs. Pawlenty signed the bill shortly after the teleconference was held.

Click here to listen to audio of the teleconference. Contact Justin Ailes if you would like information on how to conduct a teleconference in your state.
Minnesota is the ninth state to ban the use of PTFs. Others include Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Kansas, Oregon and Utah. Texas and California have legislation that limits the use of PTFs. Many other states have pending bills that would ban PTFs as well, including Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Companies are attempting to add language to home purchase contracts requiring that a percentage of the sale price be paid to the developer or builder of a property every time the property is sold for the next 99 years. The right to collect these PTFs could then be securitized and sold to enrich investors at the cost of stealing equity from consumers, forcing homeowners to pay a large fee to sell their homes and adding a complicated legal roadblock to the home sale process.